April 12, 2012

"... and he is ignoring the oath they took to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution — just like he did... Calling fellow members of Congress 'communists' is reminiscent of the days when Joe McCarthy divided Americans with name-calling and modern-day witch hunts that don't advance policies to benefit people's lives."

West's spokesperson defends his remark by saying "The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies," which doesn't explain how that makes them "members of the Communist Party."

West just sounds nutty. I'm saying that because I can't even think of a reason why he'd want to talk like that.

I don't get the outrage. "Card-carrying Marxists" is obviously hyperbolic (as in, they don't actually carry cards), but how is that any worse than the multitude of thing that are said about Republicans/Conservatives?

Politics ain't beanbag, folks. Sticks and stones and all of that. Grow up.

"For a moment, I want to get back to what was asked about the issue on the floor today that Mr. Hoyer address,” Pelosi said. “He made a point and I want to emphasize it. Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed. It’s just appalling.”

There's plenty of nutty to go around, but some generates more outrage than others.

There's a YT vid of the AZ rep during the election browbeating a woman cos he didn't like her question. I know what I would have done with that paper. How stupid are Arizonians? They chose that jerk over a real rocket scientist.

And Allen West was being funny. Some idiot asked if he knew of any Communists in Congress, and he answered like, "Yeah, about 78-80 of them" - pause - "They call themselves the Congressional Progressive Caucus."

NBC last night provided subtitles for the first part, but not for the second, and the background noise was so bad, it was hard to make out what he was saying. The editor of the Florida tape might have been fired, but apparently at least an apprentice is still there!

Save the phony outrage. It's obviously hyperbolic. I guess you believe Republicans are literally tossing grenades and opening fire on women as as they execute the "war on women".

The difference between the "war on women" and West comparing the Progressive Caucus to communists is that there's actually some truth in West's comments. The Progressive Caucus represents the extreme far left of the Democrat Party. They want MORE government involvement in the economy, more central planning, more re-distribution. They want government to be the answer to everything.

Nobody could argue that they are functionally equivalent to socialists/communists. Saying they are members of the Communist Party was inaccurate but it was so close to the truth that the progressives have to respond with the normal phony outrage.

Their policy goals are the same as Communists. He told the truth about them. Whats so shocking about telling the truth about what Progressives are; ie collectivist authoritarians? They might as well be members of the Communist Party; because they sure talk like them.

Quite frankly, if you are pushing Porgressive ideas about much of anything, you are violating your oath to defend the Constitution by seeking to undermine it in order to install an Authoritarian ruling class that regularly dismisses Constitutional safeguards on the accumulation of power by the Executive and Legislative branches AND seeks to have sections of the Bill of Rights declared null and void by the Courts; see the 2nd Amendment.

West just told the truth about them. West knows what it is to actually OBEY the Oath of Office, rather than subvert it.

Have you ever seen either of these two congress critters on TV? They want big big big govt with no end. They get their votes from the folks who Gov. Christie said are sitting on their couch waiting for the next govt check.

What West said was a hoot. That alone should qualify him for the Vice-Presidency if Romney decides not to pick Palin again.

However, since Romney is a squish and an weak sauce ass clown, he will pick neither and get someone so jelly-bellied weak that even Ann Althouse will be turned off by the lack of testosterone on the GOP ticket.

SGT Ted, today is my daughters 40th birthday, she's spending it in that hellhole called Afghanistan. She's a progressive, so is she violating her oath to defend the Constitution while treating the injured?

Progressive politicians see the Constitution limits on government as something to be overcome, changed or discarded in order to enact their policies. They say so themselves. They openly violate their oaths to defend those safeguards, while in office.

Classic example of the Progressive. Free Speech which tells the truth about Progressives is the crime of Treason, to be punished.

Pure bullshit Alleyoop. I swore an oath to defend ALL of the document. Not subvert it to enact Progrssive collectivism.

It is NOT treason to call out Progressives who violate their oaths. It's called "telling the truth". It IS treason to violate your oath of office to try and subvert the Constitution, whether by political or military force.

Actually, it is sometimes hard to differentiate a "progressive" from a "communist". They both believe in an all powerful state, they both believe all income and property belong first to the state, and they both believe they should be in charge.

Was our President denigrating the millions of Americans who voted for Republicans when he told the Republican congress to sit in the back? Or when he referred to the opposition as enemies? What reason did he have to talk that way?

AllieOop: SGT Ted, today is my daughters 40th birthday, she's spending it in that hellhole called Afghanistan. She's a progressive, so is she violating her oath to defend the Constitution while treating the injured?

Just a reminder - AllieOop claims to be a nurse but was caught flat-flooted when asked what needle size is used for IV bags. She could never provide an answer. She's a poser falsely presenting herself as a nurse, likely to leverage whatever goodwill we have for that profession.

So I would take her anecdotes with a grain of salt. She prob doesn't even have a daughter.

For AlleyOpps, proud Progressive, criticizing Progressives by telling the truth about their political goals is borderline treason.

Just like a Communist. Criminalize dissent in order to shut people up. Trouble is, I'll actually physically fight for the rights I swore an oath to uphold. Unlike Progressives who tell us daily that those rights are oppressive and get in the way of Ameritopia.

BTW, you never served. So you don't get to toss around rejoinders like "you dishonor the uniform".

Veteran ditto. You don't get to make that call, no matter how many of your kin serve or not. No amount of second-hand knowledge can make you truly understand what goes on. That comment's a bridge too far.

section9 said...What West said was a hoot. That alone should qualify him for the Vice-Presidency if Romney decides not to pick Palin again.

However, since Romney is a squish and an weak sauce ass clown, he will pick neither =====================As a right wing clown, the logic of not picking a fellow right winger with certain clownish tendencies escapes you.

Palin might have amounted to something if she had been allowed a certain amount of experience and seasoning before she ran. She had potential. Ruined now. In the bin of "famous former pols turned lobbyists/media pundits that have no base to return to" Like Gingrich, Daschle, Santorum (In Alaska, S Dakota, Georgia, Pennsylvania)Same for Allen West. Good qualities, good potential but still too much clown to his act. Let him get more seasoning. Don't ruin him by elevating him to a level he will fail at.

As for Romney...he knows the right wingers and born agains will hate the socialist and "secret Muslim" in office enough to turn out to vote for the "mushy heretic" in large numbers. So his VP will be selected with independents, women, and latinos in mind more - than the feelings of evolution-denying rattlesnake handlers in some Alabama "Holler".

Besides, Romney is the most personally conservative of the choices. His culture is socially conservative. He is a fiscal conservative. But more a "Ned" on the Simpsons than a Savonarola. A live and let live conservative. Something tells me that a gay couple living next door to him in California would not bother him at all, but would freak Santorum out.

If we are honest, neither Newt or Santorum were fiscal conservatives. And Newt was like Cain in his libertine ways.

The "progressive" agenda is utterly inconsistent with the Constitution. We need not look any further than our affirmative-action hire posing as president's comments, and those in the "progressive" cohort who happily agreed, on the USSC if they should dare to overturn the ACA because it was unconstitutional, that the Court would be over-reaching it's constitutional authority.

There are other examples, of course, but the notion one can be a committed progressive and committed to defending the Constitution, both in letter and spirit, is illogical.

This should not distract us from knowing that "progressives" (the term on its face is risible - is anything more regressive than working to create an authoritarian state?) will happily use the Constitution to advance their goals.

After all, Alger Hiss swore an oath to defend the Constitution, too. How did that work out?

Next time I draft a POA, I'm totally going to add a clause about how the attorney "gets to use the person's profession over and over again in order to try to prove points in political blog comment sections."

The hellhole your daughter is in? That's what progressives want to send us back to.

Cos this is what progressivism breeds:

Robert A Heinlein : Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."

Calling out Progressives for what they are and what they really stand for is not incivility. It's just telling the truth.

The Constitution has always gotten in the way of "progressives" or other collectivists and from Woodrow Wilsin on have tried to use whatever means to subvert it. FDR openly packed the Courts with his ideological brethren and threatened the court for opposing his New Deal policies.

Modern day progressives operate the same way. They also rely on "civility bullshit" to avoid being exposed for what they are. Even Ann was taken in by their pearl clutching fainting spell brought on by the truth.

"The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus.This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:

American Socialist Voter– Q: How many members of the U.S. Congress are also members of the DSA? A: Seventy

Q: How many of the DSA members sit on the Judiciary Committee? A: Eleven: John Conyers [Chairman of the Judiciary Committee], Tammy Baldwin, Jerrold Nadler, Luis Gutierrez, Melvin Watt, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Linda Sanchez [there are 23 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of which eleven, almost half, are now members of the DSA].

Because she is serving, her political views, goals, and actions cannot be criticized. When she returns, your daughter will be free to work to undermine the US Constitution and impose European-style unelected bureaucratic masters in the US, because of free speech.

But if a serving or formerly-serving military member criticizes Progressives, they are borderline treasonous, and must be silenced. They dishonor the uniform by using their free speech to criticize how she uses her free speech.

And you claim you have even more right to speak your mind on your daughter's behalf because you have a daughter currently in Afghanistan than someone who deployed to the middle east himself?

I do believe you have a daughter serving.

But your claims of any moral high ground are well and truly bankrupt.

You don't understand anything about the military if you think her death won't impact those in the brotherhood/sisterhood of arms. There is more compassion for a fellow servicemember one has never met than you can conceive.

But since your ideology embraces murder for the sake of feminist convenience, I guess it is understandable why you can't understand it.

Per Wikipedia:Some of the more notable Progressive members of Congress included Ted Kennedy, Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Barney Frank, Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, John Conyers, John Lewis & Paul Wellstone. Progressives to the core, just listen to there speeches they are very enlightening. LOL

Almost certainly, those on the list are all small c communists, like their Party head and that "guy from down the street", William Ayers.

That said, I read West's rationale on a couple of web sites and there was a leap I just couldn't follow. Nice to know I'm not alone.

Fen said...

Just a reminder - AllieOop claims to be a nurse but was caught flat-flooted when asked what needle size is used for IV bags. She could never provide an answer. She's a poser falsely presenting herself as a nurse, likely to leverage whatever goodwill we have for that profession.

So I would take her anecdotes with a grain of salt. She prob doesn't even have a daughter

My guess is it's a neighbor or niece that's in A-stan, because we all know how the Lefties rushed to enlist after 9/11.

As I've said, this is Mitochondri and Apfelkuchen, having been kicked out of Troop's.

And here come the progressive with the usual pack of lies about the war to justify his un-American ideology. Nevermind the tacit smear of the Military as being complicit to torture and war crimes. Nevermind that the Progg Hero, Obama, is doing the exact same things.

Proggs are real big on crimalizing the ordinary when it suits their political pruposes.

Well, Communists have a political party here in the USA. So do Nazis. As do Progressives. All anti-American in application, while they blather about the "human rights" they actively seek to subvert.

Go ahead, regard him as a nut. You'll not have to ask what he thinks of you.

I read what he thinks of Debbie Waterman Schultz the First and I LOLed all over the place RingOTFLing back and forth, then I sat up and thought, "why did that nice man hold back?"

He reminds me of so many of my dad's friends. Deadly serious ass holes, and so I feel a certain comforting warmth of familiarity. I know what to expect. I find him very pleasing and refreshing. I like him.

Mike Tyson claims that it is a disgrace that no one has shot George Zimmerman. His comments are in line with the thoughts of the Congressional Black Caucus whose members have issued any number of overheated statements. Guess which dumb remark will receive the most publicity and the most high brow repudiation.

I was over reading at the Communist Party of America website. Sounds identical to Democratic rhetoric. I don't see why "communist" would even be an insult to modern Democrats.

Yea, you have all that historic genocide, and the unblemished record of catastrophic economic failure, but those guys were not Americans - good, fair-minded, freedom-respecting types like we have in the Democratic party. Those guys just didn't do it right, but the ideas are still sound.

Edutcher, I don't engage in a "prove you are a nurse contest" with a hospital security guard.

If I haven't proven myself to be a nurse on the couple of threads that deal with death and dying and hospice over the past two or three days, then you are an ignorant fool.

Prove to me you don't have Alzheimer's. Then I will post my nursing school graduation picture as my avatar.

4/12/12 10:31 AM___________________________________

Dear Allie,This blog has a long, long historyof poseurs. Assuming the guises of veteran, captains of industry, brain surgeons, etc. After a while, they have been smoked out as astroturfers, Media Matters camp followers, and JUCO sophomores rubbing it out in Mom's basement. Ergo, there is a huge built-in presumption of you being a false flag operation. Sad, but true. Hang in there. The initiation period takes a while. You will learn the secret handshake later.

--Yea, you have all that historic genocide, and the unblemished record of catastrophic economic failure, but those guys were not Americans - good, fair-minded, freedom-respecting types like we have in the Democratic party. Those guys just didn't do it right, but the ideas are still sound.--

We're the ones we've been waiting for!

We care, we're different, this time it really, truly will work!

We just need the right people in place! Honest!

In 7 years, this vile ideology of death will celebrate 100 years of "The Revolution."

I don't know Allieoop personally, I wager that the rest of you don't either, so flinging hatred at her is not really going to get you anything but hatred in return. Until I learn different, I will accept her claims as factual. Just as I accept everyone elses. If there comes a time when their logic, or contrived story fails, I will know. The thing about contrived stories is that they do fail.

In my encounters with Allie, I haven't caught her out in any prevarications, or logic flaws. Just as I haven't with SGT.TED.

Sgt.Ted claims to be in the armed services, but I have no way of knowing. Same way with everyone on this blog.

I like Sgt.Ted, I like Allie. I like Ed, and even Garage(well...sometimes).

As far as Alan West, he was MY first choice for presidential candidate. A real hero. Torture? Prisoners? He fired a pistol near a enemy combatant that was not dressed in a uniform, a spy. Spies are usually executed when captured, and this one should have been also. Instead Col. West got information from this POS muj and saved a bunch of American lives.

That man will always have my respect, if not my support.

As far as commies in congress? You throw a rock into a pack of dogs, and the one that's hit is the one that barks.

Ps. Sgt Ted, et al...

One of the things we like about the constitution is freedom of speech, even for those we don't agree with. If the other side censors free speech, why would we want to emulate them? If we loose the public debate then it's on us. We should have used better arguments.

Sgt Ted, et al...One of the things we like about the constitution is freedom of speech, even for those we don't agree with. If the other side censors free speech, why would we want to emulate them? If we loose the public debate then it's on us. We should have used better arguments.

I do not call for censorship. I call for truth telling.

Collectivist ideologies that assert Government control over liberty and redistribution of wealth rather than protecting private property are inherently un-American in nature.

Progressive intellectuals are quite open in their admiration of European style Progressive welfare states in their lamenting our lack of Universal Health care as well as the usual raft of giveaways that rely on taking large amounts of money from other people by force. Note those nations do NOT protect individual liberties that are unique to the USA.

Progressivism is anti-American in the sense that it is a return to Aristocracy, but instead of bloodlines, the criteria to be elevated are Credentials from a University and holding certain political opinions.

Progressives openly proclaim their frustration with the US Constitutions limits on Federal Government Power and their desire to subvert those limitations in order to enact their policies. That should be red flag enough to anybody who is paying attention.

Nathan Alexander, no I am not complaining about people challenging my statements or my politics, I am complaining about dishonest debate tricks, like lying about your opponent, as Edutcher and Fen do when they know they are outflanked.

Say what you want about my politics or my daughter's progressivism, but at least be honest and don't make lies, that's cowardly.

You're the one who dragged your daughter into this. You used her as a shield.

All we're pointing out is there is a disconnect with your daughter taking the oath to uphold The Constitution, liberty, being free in their persons, being citizens with a limiting State power and being a collectivist which regresses us back into subjects, indentured servants, slaves for the greater good of the State.

You can't have liberty without having security in your person and you can't have security in your person w/o liberty.

From the moment Barack Obama was elected President by a broad alliance and cross section of the electorate, the corporate driven and lavishly funded extreme right-wing went on a rampage, blocking basic legislation that can bring the country out of economic crisis, and attempting to take back every progressive gain from the New Deal to the Civil Rights movement.

Therefore, the struggle in which we are engaged is a struggle to protect and expand basic democratic rights. To win this sharp battle will take unbreakable unity by all democratic minded people, and especially from the labor movement, racially oppressed, women and youth - the core forces for social change....This movement emerges out of an intensive summer of organizing for "jobs not cuts," including the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus jobs hearings and listening tours, and the roll out of the ten point Contract for the American Dream including proposals for large scale job creation to put people to work and meet community needs, funded by taxing the rich, ending the wars - ideas now supported by the majority of people in the country....An even larger and stronger alliance than that which elected Obama in 2008 will be needed in 2012. The lessons of these three years underscore the essential role of street heat by labor and people's organizations to protect past gains and push a progressive agenda forward.

Rep. Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus made a ringing appeal to the American Dream conference about how to change the political climate. He said instead of griping, bring the message and organize in every town and community across this country

This week's election victories in Ohio and across the country show the correctness of that approach....Voters in red states made choices that are opposite to the Republican presidential candidates' positions, showing the possibilities to shift in a progressive direction....Labor, racially oppressed, women and youth voters play a special part as the most deeply affected by the economic crisis and, as a result, the most class conscious. These core forces, along with activists in the environmental and peace movements, senior and LGBT movements, are in position to give grounding and stability to the Occupy movement as it unfolds and provide the foundation to move in a progressive direction in this election.

Seeing Red, I brought up my daughter as an example that progressives are Americans and patriots and serve this country. My daughter is YOUR shield, she puts her life on the line for all Americans, progressives, liberals,libertarians and even conservatives.

You didn't like being reminded that progressives are Americans and loyal to this country and the Constitution.

I brought up my daughter as an example that progressives are Americans and patriots and serve this country.

You're attempting to reach some equivalence in rates of military enlistment/commissions between political ideologies and it's disingenuous at best. It's akin to saying 620,000 men and women died in the US Civil War. There's no real equivalence between the number of actual deaths of men and those of women. However, I've seen contemporary history textbooks that try to cast it in exactly that light.

Lyssa, my other daughter is an attorney too, it takes intelligence to be an attorney, why do you pretend to not understand my meaning? Disingenuous.

What does my being an attorney have to do with anything, other than the fact that I sometimes draw up POA docs?

Since you're obviously not following me, I was pointing out that it's absurd to suggest that the fact that you have a POA gives you some benefit of being able to use her to score points on a political blog. That's not anything like what POAs do. Obviously.

It's not like she's out doing patrols or analyzing enemy tactics, right?

She's a rear-echelon type who can only do her job because Combat Arms types use Intel to stop the bad guys before they can get to her.

So if you are done denying you are complaining about how mean people are, how about returning to the topic?

The Progressive ideology includes a "living" Constitution. Progressive Justices rule on the "constitutionality" of laws from sources other than the US Constitution. Progressive ideology includes the idea that the end justifies the means. Progressive ideology teaches that some people cannot be successful without extra help, simply due to their skin color. Progressive ideology asserts that a tax cut is "giving" something to the people who work to earn that money, as if all money belongs to the govt, and the govt graciously allows us to keep whatever the Progressive ideologues think is proper. Progressive ideology says that "at some point, you've made enough money," so that progressive politicians can take the rest and use it for progressive goals. Progressive ideology preaches that it is wrong to require an ID to vote, but requires the same people to show IDs in order to petition govt. Progressive ideology teaches that their vision of identity/grievance politics and wealth redistribution is inevitable, and they will bend laws (like disabling protections against campaign fraud and voter fraud) to bring it about.

That has nothing to do with your daughter's chosen occupation.

But I applaud her willingness to risk her life to save military lives overseas.

When she comes back, if she still embraces the evil ideology of Progressives, I will continue to denounce her political choices.

Now: since your daughter is out of it, try defending the Progressive ideology.

Trying to make yourself a victim to avoid answering difficult questions is typical of Progressive tactics, but does you no credit.

Looks like I'm never goin to be able to get off this thread. Nathan Alexander, now you say you didn't just try to bash my daughter, what do you call minimizing what she does over there? You have NO idea what she does over there.

Ms. Oop,You didn't like being reminded that progressives are Americans and loyal to this country and the Constitution.

That's an interesting bit of dishonesty there.

Let me recap and rebut:No one is denying that Progressives are Americans.

An argument has been made that Progressives are more loyal to Progressive ideology than they are to the nation or the US Constitution. Or put another way, they are loyal to the nation only to the point that they can change it to be like Europe, and loyal to the US Constitution only when they can re-interpret the meaning of the words to do what the US Constitution would otherwise allow.

You chose to say that you have a daughter that is serving in a war zone as proof that Progressives are loyal to the nation and the US Constitution.

That fails to be proof on several points.

1) a single Progressive serving in the military does not provide proof for any/all Progressives who have never served. In other words, you can't use your daughter's service to get a free pass for undermining the US Constitution by insisting it is a "living document".

2) There are many reasons people serve that are not directly related to loyalty to the nation and the US Constitution. Or are you claiming Timothy McVeigh as a fellow Progressive Patriot? He served, too, no? Some people serve in order to pay off school loans. Some serve because the negatives (no stability in life, personal danger) are far outweighed by the positives (great retirement, see the world, generally more professional work environment, esprit de corps, etc). It isn't for everyone...the benefits are finely calibrated. But just serving doesn't mean someone is automatically a perfect American.

It comes down to character and actions.

What do you actually do? And what do you excuse in order to reach your goals?

If your daughter helps illegals vote so that Democrats can be elected in order to increase the possibility of getting Progressive Justices/judges into the court system to bring about changes you can't get passed through the legislature, then she is undermining the US Constitution in violation of her oath.

Looks like I'm never goin to be able to get off this thread. Nathan Alexander, now you say you didn't just try to bash my daughter, what do you call minimizing what she does over there? You have NO idea what she does over there.

I know what a corpsman does, Ma'am.It isn't bashing her to assume she is doing her job, is it?

FMF Corpsman of the 1 MLG do not go out on patrols.

And yes, I do know that for a fact.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that. As a corpsman, she is maintaining the health and perhaps even actively saving lives. Very honorable.

But it isn't actually going out and engaging with the enemy.

Why are you so quick to assume I don't know anything about Navy Corpsmen?

I think it is becoming clear that you have no idea of the entire military context surrounding what what your daughter does.

But that isn't bashing your daughter. I'm sure she does a great job in her assigned duties.

If your point is you pretend to be a victim because you have no idea how to understand simple, clear English and can't defend your own ideology, then yes: I am proving your point.

But since you seem to need to have extremely simple concepts spelled out for you in simple words:

I did not compare your daughter to Timothy McVeigh in any way, shape, or form.

I asserted that it is possible to serve and still be a dirtbag.

If you see any similarity between a dirtbag like McVeigh and your daughter, that is a situation you need to come to grips with.

Now, I do see a connection between McVeigh and Progressives. Political violence is constantly a tool of Progressives in the US.Look at the rapes, murders, and assaults of "Occupy" and the complete absence of same in the Tea Party.Note the Progressive who set fire to Democrat HQ in Austin.Note the Black Panthers putting a bounty on Zimmerman.

If your daughter does these things, then and only then does she compare to McVeigh.

After all, noting that Timothy McVeigh served doesn't seem to bother conservative servicemembers like SGT Ted and me. I guess it is because we are secure in our loyalty, patriotism, and lack of political violence in our ideology.

Just an unnecessary observation on my part, but you seem to engender swirling vortexes of drama when you post that seem to always end up about you somehow.

I've lurked her for a couple years now and that's only been the case with less than a handful of commenters. I don't mean any more or less than what I'm saying, so don't read anything in to it other than what's actually printed above.

"No Tim, it's not worth my time. I'm beyond disgusted at what has occured (sic) on this thread today, but I shouldn't be, it happens all too often here."

That doesn't make sense. You're "beyond disgusted at what has occured (sic) on this thread today," by the inference your daughter, as a Progressive, is in fact a Communist. You have devoted lots of posts engaging other commenters on the point, but you can't take one short post to explain the distinctions between Progressives and Communists because it isn't worth your time. I would think it would be fairly short and easy to explain the distinctions, but I don't know. Maybe it really is complex and nuanced, and would take a lot of time.

But then, you really can't blame people for thinking your Progressive daughter is a Communist, if you aren't willing to explain why being a Progressive isn't being a Communist.

After all, Alger Hiss proved Communists have taken oaths to "uphold and defend the Constitution, from enemies foreign and domestic" too, and that didn't stop them from being Communists.

So help out your daughter's reputation, and teach us (well, me, at least) why Progressives aren't Communists.

PS: AlleyOop, If someone called one of my daughters something she wasn't, that was perceived as derogatory or otherwise defaming her character, and a simple explanation would clarify the matter, I would make that clarification.

Scott I am not appealing to authority, I am appealing to the commenters here, to debate fairly, don't lie, don't be disingenuous, don't try to smear the commenter personally when you don't agree with their politics.

Believe me, when I learned that crap it was glazed eyeball time, but that notwithstanding...

When you are trying to make a point and bring up an "appeal to authority" to bolster you case, ie, it's the way I say it is because this person in this position makes it so (just one example of the type), you are making a fallacious argument and do nothing to advance your original premise.

Aside from the fact, you bring in something that cannot be proven (or probably won't be) within the context of a blog like this one. As such, people pounce. That's not to excuse anyone's comment other than my own, which I'm wholly responsible for, but it's something to bear in mind.

If you're in full on anecdotal mode, and your posting is easily read as such, no sweat, but when you're trying to make a serious point, valid or not, by using an appeal (or argument) to authority like that, it doesn't do one thing to prove your position.

All of this, of course, is aside from the fact that in my six years of service, plus growing up in the military, plus all of the active duty family members I have, not once have I or any of them met someone who calls themselves "progressive". Not one.

My appeal to authority is just as valid, and just as unprovable, as yours.

AllieOop: I am not appealing to authority, I am appealing to the commenters here, to debate fairly, don't lie, don't be disingenuous, don't try to smear the commenter personally when you don't agree with their politics. In other words try to be honorable.

According to an inexhaustible amount of nattering ninnies, spouting an equal number of half-truths here, Teddy Roosevelt was not just a progressive, but a communist hell-bent on subverting the constitution.

For anyone interested, I figured I'd point out that Fen is too dumb to realize that intravenous administration of medications is not a part of psychiatric nursing care.

Unless he objects to the characterization. In which case I'd ask him to tell me the names of these intravenously administered psychiatric drugs, their doses, indications, etc.

One thing you can always count on: A retrograde, if sufficiently motivated, will not be too dumb to use his own ample ignorance to try and "prove" something about his adversary. Often his paranoia really does run that deep.

And the idea that the constitution was a conservative document, filled with conservative ideas, is too laughable for words. The idea that it wasn't meant to apply to future American lives, filled with all sorts of innovations that did not exist in in 1787, is even more laughable.

For the retrograde, time does not merely stand still. It winds its way back into his own ass.

Try to imagine Thomas Jefferson cutting out sections of the bible with which he disagreed as an exercise in conservatism. It's just not possible. Only a rage/roid-filled lunatic could think such a thing.

And let's not even get started on his support for the French Revolution.